


Chronicles of Talon

by Jochern



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Clone Wars, Conflict, Gen, Jedi, New padawan, Revenge, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9324761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jochern/pseuds/Jochern
Summary: Follow Jedi Knight Talon T’racen through the war after her padawan dies at the hands of Count Dooku’s newest Apprentice, a Zabrak female. Follow as Talon leads her Legion of clones and trusted friends down a road of death and blood to defend the Republic.





	1. The new Apprentice

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I decided this story needed a remake desperately. I felt there was several problems in the story that arose when I started writing it-say-a year and a half ago?  
> Either way I few of these was-I felt-that the first few chapters of the story seemed to star something that never went to anything, a bunch of new clones without much personalities but their names would appear-almost randomly-occasionally. There was one big plotline that never went anywhere and one minor plotline that disappeared just after appearing.  
> Also, the last name conversation over Ryloth was just awkward and bad.  
> This version way better organized then the prior story and I know exactly where I want it to go and what every chapter is going to bring forth and be about. Unlike one or two years ago, I actually organize my writing a lot better so I know what the heck is happened later on.

**2 nd Interstellar Task Force, Star Destroyer _Glacier_**

**Hyperspace**

The Venator class Star Destroyer cruised through hyperspace at lightspeed towards its destination. The commander of the Task Force headed by the _Glacier_ was in her quarters meditating.

Actually, she had spent the majority of her time meditating since her padawan died. The red skinned Twi’lek suddenly shook her head violently. She couldn’t shake the image of when she was holding Jade’s dead and bloodied body in her arms out of her head.

She grunted and threw herself back against the floor, abruptly ending any attempt at meditation.

After trying to push the horrible events out of her mind, Talon got up and decided she was finished with her meditation for today. She blinked forcefully when she felt herself getting a bit misty eyed. Her feelings flared as they always did when her sweet and innocent padawan entered her mind. Her soft gentle voice and innocent outlook on the galaxy. So many times-and so badly-she wished she could’ve taken her place, or killed the bitch Sith that took her from her.

Managing to shake those thought-albeit momentarily-from her head she reminded herself that she was a jedi and jedi didn’t seek revenge. But it didn’t stop her from wanting revenge. As justified as she felt right now.

Her comm chimed suddenly. She looked down at it and keyed it.

“Yes?”

 _“General, we’re arriving in orbit over Dekkarun shortly,”_ her loyal clone Commander Abyss informed her.

“Thank you, I’m on my way to the bridge,” she answered.

 _“Yes, general.”_ He cancelled the transmission after that.

She was dressed in a long black skirt with a sleeveless black and red tunic to it. Lastly the red skinned Twi’lek had black robes that she wore over her shirt and skirt. Her violet eyes focused on the end of the corridor as she marched towards the bridge. Several clones greeted her with. “Sir,” or “Ma’am,” or “General,” on her march. Entering the elevator she quickly made way for the right level and shortly, she walked through the doors into the command center and through it into the bridge.

She immediately spotted Abyss through the crowd of clone techies and naval officers.

He was wearing the new Phase II armor and held his helmet under his right arm. She actually thought he looked pretty good in it. A bit more badass then before. His armor had the violet markings that his old Phase I armor had. In the past it had been the Echo Company that wore the violet stripes but now they were wore both the majority of her clone troopers. Macro Binoculars was attached to his helmet and he wore a blaster proof black and violet skirt and shoulder armor, also it violet.

“General,” he said when she approached.

“Abyss,” she responded. She nodded to her fleet’s admiral. “Cossack, how you been lately?”

The Admiral turned and looked at her, bemused by the casual phrasing. The elder man then nodded. “Good, General T’racen.” He studied her in silence for a short moment. He hadn’t seen her for the last week, apart from the strategy briefings. She spent her time in her quarters, alone. He knew that loosing Padawan Jade had been hard. But not only for her. The troopers mourned their jedi superior. After the girl died the troopers pretty much got so pissed they went out and won the battle just like that. From a losing position they had pushed the CIS back and scrapped the droids utterly.

Bentonite Cossack forced the thoughts from his mind. This wasn’t the time. And so the blonde bearded admiral fiddled with his fingers gently behind his back.

“Sir, our pilots are already in the hangar and ready to deploy immediately once we drop out of lightspeed,” he told her.

“Good,” she said plainly. The Separatist fleet presence here shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Assuming intelligence didn’t drop the ball. Again.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Cossack concluded.

As the blue tunnel disappeared it was replaced by the blackness that was space. A planet was seen several million kilometers away and a handful of ships stood in their path.

“Identifying Four CIS Frigates and a Heavy Cruiser,” a naval officer alerted them.

“Engage,” Talon ordered.

Cossack nodded.

“All ships move in to engage,” he commanded. “Full frontal assault.”

The ten ships making up the 2nd Interstellar Task Force quickly closed the distance between them and the Separatist squadron. In usual fashion the-presumed-droid crews engaged and took to the offensive. Talon had her fighters out far ahead of the enemy since they launched the moment they reentered normal space. That little tactic gave them a slight advantage over the droids.

Talon looked at the planet for a while. Dekkarun.

It was a beautiful planet. The lush gorgeous green fauna could be seen from space as it stretched across the planet as green oceans. The biggest mountains was also visible by their massive height and size alone. It had a trio of moons, but none of them were habitable. A few decades ago they had established a colony under a dome with five thousand colonists. They all died when a stray meteor stuck the dome and smashed it. They had never tried again yet after that disaster.

Apart from being a beautiful planet, Dekkarun was ruled by the Sovereign Council, who were made up by seven people with supreme power over all state affairs. They had voted to join the Separatist Alliance at the beginning of the war a year ago. It was clear to the Council, Separatist Alliance and the Republic that the people greatly disapproved and a dozen revolts had already taken place. All failed.

Upon liberating the planet, Talon was hoping for local assistance. She knew this wasn’t only about freeing an oppressed people, but Dekkarun had massive mines that produced a large surplus of Duranium, that was used in starship construction. The amounts of Duranium on Dekkarun made it a strategic objective to give the Republic a small advantage.

“One enemy Frigate disabled,” a clone reported.

Talon saw how another Frigate was picked off.

The Praetor Class Battlecruiser _Icarus_ pushed forward and directed it’s fully fire upon the Heavy Cruiser. The Cruiser couldn’t withstand the firepower and its shields quickly crumbled. Adding fire from two Star Destroyers, it left little for the droid crew to do. It was swiftly ripped apart.

Talon turned completely to Abyss and forced herself to look chipper and back to her old self.

“Let’s get ready to go dirtside, shall we?”

“Gladly,” Abyss agreed.

He had been itching for a fight since jade died two weeks ago. Talon took the lead and he followed suit behind her. He was truly worried about his Jedi General. A normal mourning period took months and up to a year, to his knowledge, but a jedi didn’t get that. Actually she barely got a day before the Jedi High Council thrusted the 81st Legion back into it. A quick resupply, four ships added and then they set a course for Dekkarun and the Expansion Region. He sighed inwardly. He knew the chipper facade she showed him was that, a façade. Unfortunately he couldn’t worry about the general now. If he worried too much, he’d get shot planetside. It was time to focus.

In the hangar he met up with the giant black and yellow armored man. Chief Spartacus. The black clad giant wielded a DC-15A in his grip. The giant of a man turned and looked at the Commander through his blue tinted visor.

“Abyss,” he said curtly.

“Spartacus,” Abyss replied, now with his own helmet on. His attention turned to the giant eight feet man. “How’s the cybernetics?”

Granted he wasn’t eight feet exactly, but more like seven feet. The armor gave him a boost. But seven feet was still bloody tall for a regular human. Although, nobody ever called Spartacus _regular_.

“Doing their job,” Spartacus answered simply. He moved his right arm slightly. “I can still shoot, so I’m good. Not abandoning her to fight alone down there.”

Abyss understood he referred to General T’racen. The Chief had been there when poor innocent Jedi died. The Sith that killed her had jabbed her saber through him and cut his right arm off at the elbow. She had cracked his visor and shattered his jaw. Spartacus was now using a cybernetic arm, six ribs and his jaw partially. Now the giant blamed himself for it. He hated himself for letting Jade die, even though it wasn’t his fault. Abyss made yet another mental note of speaking to the general about it. He hadn’t had time for it for what seemed like ages.

 _“General, the last enemy starship has been destroyed,”_ Cossack’s voice chipped through Talon’s communicator. “We are in range to start the ground offensive.”

“Do it,” Talon ordered.

“Affirmative, Cossack out.”

The gunship lifted off and left the hangar, just like the rest did. The first way of troops from the _Glacier_ was on the way. They were joined by gunships from a few of the other ships in her Task Force. Not all ships were loaded up with troops. Out of the ten ships, four of them had been carrying clone troops for the ground offensive. Usually these could be carried on just two ships, but she had spread them out to ensure more men partook in the first landing operation.

The target was Fermark, the capital of Dekkarun. The city was built onto a massive mountain on the main continent. In fact, all Dekkarun cities was built on mountains, cut into the mountainsides. The idea was that if the capital fell and the Council arrested, it would cause a planet wide surrender by remaining Dekkarun Defense Force.

Massive white and golden towers rose towards the sky and white stone clad roads and bridges connected the Fermark’s districts. Add to that thousands of staircases from different levels. No room for AT-TEs but AT-RTs and ATAPs could move amongst the buildings. The fast moving All Terrain Recon Transports was one of the few ways Talon and her soldiers had to quickly maneuver. The slightly slower All Terrain Attack Pods could do a ton of damage up front to any armored vehicle with its artillery cannon.

 _“General T’racen!”_ A voice came through.

“What is it Captain Gecko?” The Jedi Knight responded.

 _“My men’s gotta staying clear of the Council Pyramid!”_ He told her. _“The anti-air blasted three of my gunships from the sky in moments!”_

“Set your Battalion down elsewhere, Captain,” Talon urged him. “Go in on foot.”

“Copy!”

She heard artillery plasma shells outside. She quickly keyed her comm to a channel to all her forces heading groundside.

“Attention, this is General T’racen! Stay clear of fortified objectives and land as soon as possible. The anti-air barrage is too heavy!”

The gunship suddenly shook abruptly. If she hadn’t held a handle in the ceiling she would be rolling on the floor right now.

 _“I’m setting you down in a plaza, sir!”_ The pilot shouted.

“Thanks pilot!” Talon shouted back over the growing plasma fire outside. “That will be fine!”

**2 nd Interstellar Task Force, Star Destroyer _Glacier_**

On board _Glacier’s_ bridge Cossack directed the fighter and bomber squadrons on their strife for Fermark. Despite the calm that had laid in Dekkarun’s space, the admiral knew that the groundside situation was far from as calm. People were dying by the minute, perhaps even second right now.

A naval officer then turned to him.

“Sir, a hyperspace window just opened.”

“Hostile or friendly lieutenant?” Cossack asked calmly.

“Friendly, admiral. It’s the Corvette _Vicious_.”

Cossack thought back to the report of a Corvette joining the Task Force. It had been delayed since it would transport Generals T’racen’s new padawan.

“Sir, they are requesting permission to send a shuttle over with Commander Sabre,” the same officer told him.

Cossack nodded.

“Permission granted. “Have her escorted to the bridge once she arrives.”

“Yes, sir.”


	2. Road to the comm tower

**Dekkarun, Capital city Fermark**

Talon leaped out of the gunship when the doors retracted with her blue lightsaber activated. The clones inside followed her, as did Spartacus. Five more gunships landed in the same plaza. Once their gunship lifted off, another took its place and off loaded more troops.

As the men were securing the LZ Spartacus marched to up the three AT-RTs.

“Troopers,” he said in his authority heavy voice.

“Chief,” a trooper said. He was sitting on top of his AT-RT.

“You’re part of Captain Locke’s Battalion,” Spartacus presumed.

“Yes, sir. 1209th Armored,” the trooper confirmed.

“Until further notice I need one of you to stay put and defend the LZ,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir!”

“Remaining two, up front and ready to move out,” the black clad giant finished.

“Sir!” Both pilots answered in unison.

Spartacus marched up to a Squad of troopers. All with violet stripes on their armor.

“Sergeant, I need you to secure that house-” he pointed to a building across the plaza. “-and fortify it.”

“Yes, Chief. We’re on it!” The Sergeant replied.

Spartacus walked over to Talon and Abyss after he spent a few minutes organizing the troopers around the LZ. They were looking over a small blue holographic map with five other clone officers.

“You have your orders,” he heard Abyss tell the officers.

They replied with a “Sir!” And left to carry out those orders.

Talon eyed the map carefully.

“We’re quite far from the Council Pyramid,” she noted. “Let’s hope Gecko was able to land his men closer.” She paused and looked up at Spartacus. “We’re close to the communications tower though.”

“If we’re going to convince the Dekkarun people Armed Forces not to fight us, we need to take that tower,” Abyss added its strategic importance. “The objective fell to a detachment from Nitro Battalion.”

Spartacus pointed over his shoulder.

“Two gunships dropped off troopers from Nitro,” he told them. “I moved them up to the AT-RTs.”

Talon continued looking at the little map for a while. But she couldn’t deal with the big picture right now. First of all, they had to take that comm tower and gain control over Fermark’s lines of communication. That would allow them to send a message across the city, pleading with the troops to join the Republic and help liberate their homeworld. That would leave-experts had estimated-a small number of loyal soldiers and whatever detachment of droids where in the region.

They were lucky that the plaza only had to entry points of foot. A staircase that went down and a road going forward along the Cliffside. It made defending it a lot easier.

Turning the map off she saw three more gunships setting down to unload troops and material.

“We’re moving on the comm tower,” she ordered. “It’s the closest from here. Then we try making our way to the Council Pyramid.”

“Yes, general,” Abyss complied.

The three made their way to the two Platoons waiting to advance. Both AT-RTs was with that and stood up front.

Around them they could still hear blasting from artillery pieces and fighters and bombers. A large dogfight took place above their heads. Talon trusted her pilots to stay clear of the batteries and beat their CIS counterparts to a pulp.

As this happened the two Platoons of mismatched clones swiftly advanced forward along the white stone laid road. Talon led from the front, as always. She was flanked by Abyss, two clones with violet markings and an AT-RT. Spartacus came right behind them, moving along the house walls on their right. The white and golden houses had been dug into the Cliffside itself. Only a few buildings stood on the opposite side, giving them a great view over the edge to see what was below and across on the Cliffside on the over side. That side of the mountain was just as filled with streets, junctions and buildings as the one they currently occupied.

As the road turned downward slightly and steep stairs followed Talon’s eyes stumbled upon a Squad of eight demolished battle droids.

 _“General T’racen, your two o’clock,”_ she heard over the comm.

Following the instructions she spotted two clone snipers on the roof.

“I see you made it down in one piece, Ghost,” she remarked.

 _“Yes, sir,”_ the sharpshooter confirmed in his low voice. _“Me and Dino survived our crash and set up here.”_

As the two Platoons continued moving Talon said: “There’s an LZ five hundred meters back that way if you need backup or supplies. Just link up with ‘em.”

 _“We’re good for now general,”_ Ghost assured her. _“We can stay and pick off whatever force the bastards try sending this way. Give the brothers a warning if they come this way. Ghost out.”_

With that he cut the conversation.

Talon’s unit continued down the road until they reached a steep staircase cut out of the mountain that led upward to the communications tower one hundred meters above them.

“No way that the AT-RTs make it up there,” Abyss said aloud.

It was not enough room for the walkers to make it up the steep section of white stairs.

“Leave two Squads and both AT-RTs to guard our asses,” Talon decided. “Rest start moving.”

“Copy that.” Abyss quickly picked out two squads while Talon led the rest up the stairs.

Making their way up they could see the seventy feet high golden and white tower stretching towards the sky. From a distance below Talon could make out three anti-air cannons placed strategically around the tower to keep any aero fighters and bombers away. She presumed it would be rather heavily guarded.

The once distant gunfire was drawing closer and closer and she realized it must be up top it came from.

“Hurry!” She exclaimed and started running.

The troopers double timed it and ran after her, trying to keep up with their jedi superior.

Talon was the first up and looked quickly around on the road. It lead out to the tower and to a few buildings in the other direction. A burning gunship had crashed into one of the buildings. A bunker separated them from the comm tower.

Six clones laid dead on the ground and two humans in dark brown armor and helmets with wings on them laid on the left side of the bunker.

She activated her lightsaber and jumped in front of the two clones pulling an injured trooper towards cover. First they were surprised to see the general appear but that was quickly exchanged joyful relief.

“Get to cover!” Talon shouted at them while she deflected the incoming fire from the Medium Repeating blaster inside the bunker.

The clone medic grabbed his injured brother and pulled him behind cover of a house wall.

“Stop groanin’, Maze,” the medic told his injured brother. He then looked up at the uninjured man next to him. “Don’t just stand and watch, peek out and cover the General.”

“R-right!”

He leaned out from cover and fired a burst of four bolts at the bunker. As Talon still stood firm and blocked the repeaters fire the first clones arrived.

“Get the rocket launcher up front!” Abyss ordered and jumped behind cover.

“No, a grenade will do fine!” Talon countered him.

She then ran out of the firing line.

Abyss didn’t argue and pulled out a grenade of his own. He lobbed it towards the bunker and Talon used the force to guide it inside easily. The following screams showed that the Dekkarun soldiers spotted it, but the next second the bunker exploded from the inside. It killed the bunker crew and obliterated the turret and its gunner.

“Move up!” Abyss ordered. “Secure the towers surroundings. Chief, mind leading a squad inside?”

The giant of a man obliged with a nod.

“I’m on it Commander,” he answered in a professional voice.

Meanwhile Talon walked over and kneeled beside the medic and injured trooper. She put a smile on her lips and a gentle hand on the grunting troopers shoulder. He immediately looked up at her while the medic tried patching him up. He had a blaster wound through his right leg and two wounds in his chest. The armor seemed to have stopped the bolts from going through there and instantly killing him, instead it caused him pain and a possibly far slower death.

“G-general,” he stuttered painfully.

“You’ll be alright trooper,” she told him in a soft voice.

She saw the medic preparing biofoam. She reached out and took the wounded troopers hand and he squeezed back tightly.

“It’s alright. The pain will pass.”

After a while the medic straightened his back and stood up.

“General,” he said as he had finished up. “Appreciate that. Corporal Stitches. Echo Battalion.”

“The 81st’s glad to have men like you, Corporal,” Talon told him.

“Thanks ma’am,” Stitches replied sincerely. “Lost six men assaultin’ that tower, includin’ sarge. Don’t mind if we stick with ya, do ya?” He then looked down at his brother. “Maze needs to get out of here. Field treatment will only get him so far. He needs some real medical care in _Glacier’s_ infirmary.”

“I-I’ll be fine,” Maze tried, and failed to assure them. He tried standing up.

“Stay down trooper,” Stitches ordered him firmly with a glare.

“I’ll divert men to get him back to the landing zone,” Talon said. “Don’t overexert yourself, trooper. We’ll need you when you’re up and about again.”

“Thank you ma’am,” Stitches appreciated it.

Talon and Stitches joined the rest at the base of the communications tower. She saw that the clones were already in the progress of dismantling anti-air cannons. Two men stood outside the door into the tower itself and Spartacus stepped outside.

“General,” he said coming towards her.

“Report, Chief. Done already?” Talon asked.

“Yes ma’am,” he confirmed and hung his DC-15A blaster rifle over his back. Then he gestured to the left side of the tower. Half a dozen clones was standing guard around the Dekkarun soldiers that came in to stand in one spot. “The majority of them surrendered immediately when we entered the tower.”

“The majority? Casualties?” She picked up on the detail.

“One man injured, nothing serious on our side, but four enemy troops eliminated in the short firefight,” Spartacus informed her. “The techs from Nitro Battalion will be ready to transmit the message city wide in an hour. Until then, they can easily block enemy comms inside Fermark.”

For a moment he looked down at her through his bright blue helmet visor.

“How you holding up, Talon?” he asked, almost whispered.

She glanced away from him.

“I…this isn’t the time.” With that, she turned and walked over to Abyss. “Commander.”

“Yes general?” He said immediately.

“We’re leaving one Platoon here to secure the tower and I want a squad to follow the wounded back to our LZ,” she told him.

“I’ll get right on it,” Abyss said.

She nodded.

“Good, ‘cause were rejoining our rearguard when as soon as possible,” she said referring to the two AT-RTs and squads left behind below the long stairs to the tower.

Spartacus looked at her from a distance with concerned eyes behind his visor.


	3. Disobedience

**Dekkarun orbit, Star Destroyer _Glacier_**

As the green skinned Twi’lek girl stepped off the shuttle she was met by a clone officer. She gazed at the clone that had the look of any other of his brothers with the hair style and all with her lilac eyes. He was wearing standard Phase II armor with violet stripes and his hands hanging straight down on his sides. When she approached him he snapped off a salute.

“Commander Sabre,” he greeted her. “I am Captain Bug-zapper. I am here to escort you to Admiral Cossack on the bridge.”

She eyed him dubiously.

“Not, my new master?”

“Afraid not, Commander,” he apologized. “General T’racen’s planetside.”

She cheered up at the news and clapped her soft hands together. Maybe she could go down there and join the attack? That would certainly show Master T’racen that she could handle herself.

“Lead the way than, Captain,” she told Marcus.

He nodded and marched out, with the padawan in tow.

After a decent walk and an elevator ride the Captain arrived on the bridge with the young Twi’lek padawan.

She studied the aged blonde haired man as she approached him. He had a few notable strains of grey hair in his relatively thick beard. He wore a grey uniform with a few medals pinned to his chest. With a faint smile he turned to face her.

“Ah, Commander Sabre,” he greeted her curtly. “I apologize for not greeting you when you arrived but you understand I am needed on the bridge.”

“Certainly Admiral,” she assured him with a smile reaching from ear to ear. “I guess I kinda caught y’all off guard, with the invasion and all.”

Cossack was pretty sure he knew what nagged of her inside. Even though he didn’t show it.

“General T’racen would have met you in person if she hadn’t be in command of liberating Dekkarun,” he promised her.

Sabre looked around the bridge. It was filled with officers in blue uniforms and a handful of clones in Phase II armor. Captain Bug-zapper was departing. She mused that he might be preparing to join the invasion himself. With the rank of captain he was probably in command of a Battalion of his own. She made a mental note to ask him about his name. Bug-zapper?

“Admiral, could you fill me in on the campaign?” She asked hopefully.

Cossack nodded.

“Off course.” He gave her a simple explanation about General T’racen’s plan and assault on the capital of Fermark. The Twi’lek’s excitement increased as he went on.

“Ehm, are you sending down some gunships soon?” She asked.

Cossack arched an eyebrow.

“Yes…why?” He asked suspiciously.

She clapped her hands together.

“You could surely use another jedi, right?” She argued hopefully. “A-and I, err, I am eager to meet my master. Besides, I can handle myself.”

Cossack thought it over. She certainly didn’t lack confidence. Cocky little girl. He fiddled slightly with his fingers behind his back and straightened. He was pretty sure the general might not approve of her new padawan going planetside just after arriving. Then again, he was sure if it was his place to question a jedi, padawan or not. Arguing with T’racen usually ended in a pointless waste of time.

“As you say, Commander,” Cossack conceded. “But I’m not sure if T’racen would agree.”

Sabre shook her head in disagreement. She didn’t believe that. Certainly her master would be impressed by her decision and even more so when she would see her taking on the droids and whatever local defenders.

**Dekkarun, Capital city Fermark**

_“The defense around the Council Pyramid has dug in hard, general,”_ Captain Gecko said.

Talon looked at the small hologram in her hand.

“Are we sure the Councilors are there?” She asked.

 _“The locals assured us they were in a meeting and apparently there is a bunker underneath for them to hide in in case of attack,”_ Gecko explained. _“We have locked down the entire district and troopers from the 120 th Mountain Regiment are trying to push through.”_

“You’ve heard from Captain Sly?” Talon then asked him.

 _“Yes, sir. He landed a few clicks away from here. He secured an LZ and wait for reinforcements,”_ the clone captain said.

“Well, keep at it, Gecko,” Talon finished. “We need the councilors in custody.”

 _“Boys and I are on it, sir,”_ he assured her.

She returned the communicator to her pocket and rose from behind her cover. Her lightsaber deflected the incoming bolts swirling her way. There was no time to think about Gecko, Sly or any other of her officers or loyal clones that were dying by the minute. She had to focus on the present situation.

The bridge that reached across the canyon was two thousand meters long and fifty meters wide. It was just one of the firm bridges connecting the two parts of the city together. Six heavy Repeaters was spewing blaster fire from the Dekkarun Defense Forces barricade. The human defenders line was tightened up with a mass of battle droids and super battle droids. A squad of Droideka but they had been destroyed with a few well-placed droid poppers and a rocket launcher.

Spartacus sat behind the same cover and popped up and fired four bursts of three bolts each. One burst smacked into the faceplate of a brown light armored Dekkarun defender and he fell backwards. One burst missed while the other two took out a battle droid each. The dead Defender left his Repeater quiet.

The black clad giant fired a single bolt as a battle droid maneuvered to assume the position of gunner. The head got popped right off.

After dealing with the communications tower about an hour ago Talon’s force had joined up with more clones and “deserters” from the local Defense Force that switched sides to help liberate their homeworld from the iron hand of Count Dooku’s lackeys on the Sovereign Council.

“The defenders are fighting harder than I thought they would,” he commented.

“Yeah, right?” Talon responded, still deflecting bolts. “When the message goes out, I’m they got to realize we’re here to liberate them and get them to fight for their own freedom.”

“A mass defection would end this pretty quickly,” Spartacus noted. “Assuming that aren’t too many Battalions of droids present.”

“Oh, we got them. With you here, how could we lose?” She countered. She forced herself to sound her usual playful self.

Spartacus smiled faintly under his helmet. But he wasn’t sure he deserved it. Not after what happened to Jade. He pushed the thought out of his mind and fired another burst at the enemy. The droid he aimed for went down on impact.

“We have to break their line and push on!” Talon said and ran forward.

Spartacus barely had enough time to react.

“Damn it,” he cursed under his breath. He got up and fired continues bursts. “Lieutenant, covering fire, get those AT-RTs up here now!”

“On it!” Lieutenant Marcus acknowledged.

The Lieutenant moved over and used his helmet comm. Both AT-RTs came charging up and the three AT-APs opened up a pinpointed barrage of plasma of death.

Spartacus jumped over the broken down aircar he had used for cover and charged up. He fired the last six bolts and reloaded with a new charge pack immediately. He got in a trio of headshots on two super battle droids and a droid with red stripes.

One of the AT-RTs jumped up and blasted down half a dozen hostiles in two seconds flat. With the second joining in they blasted hordes on enemies. A blast from an AT-AP sent three Dekkarun’s flying and tore six droids apart into little mechanical pieces.

Talon leaped into the midst of the soldiers behind the barricade and let her saber cut them apart. The shredded them and let blood and limbs fly. Defenders were panicking and more than a few dropped their weapons on the spot.

When she slashed the heavy Repeater near her it left only one turret manned. Blaster fire from an AT-RT demolished the battle droid gunner.

With the clones charging behind Spartacus the last few Dekkarun’s who refused to surrender scrammed for a second defensive position further along the bridge. But many of them simply dropped their blasters on the spot. Seven were shot to death by battle droids for surrendering.

Spartacus took out a battle droid that was trying to gun down surrendering Dekkarun’s. He jumped over the metal barricade and as quickly joined by clones and the Dekkarun Defense Force soldiers who switched sides to liberate their people. Himself, the large man ran up to Talon.

He was about to speak when a bolt whizzed by their heads. He reacted quickly and pushed Talon behind cover of a metal barricade piece.

“Cover!” He exclaimed.

“Dwarf spider droids ahead!” He heard Abyss shout aloud.

Spartacus saw Talon glare at him with a disapproving expression. He turned his gaze to the destroyed battle droid with red stripes. He hadn’t seen one with that before. He theorized it could be the symbol of a specific Division in the CIS or insignia of a specific field commander.

A blast from a Dwarf spider droid sent a trooper flailing his arms as he was rocketed off the edge of the bridge. His horrified screamed filled Spartacus’s ears for a few seconds. He turned back to Talon. She had stopped glaring at him and was standing up straight, deflecting incoming fire.

One of the Dwarf spiders was blown apart from a shot from an AT-AP. The gunner up top let lose a barrage of bolts at the line of Dwarf spider droids and battle droids in the distance from them. The AT-APs was held up in the very rear of the formation.

Spartacus left cover and fired a trio of bolts at a battle droids.

A well-aimed rocket from a red striped battle droid hit one of the AT-RTs dead on and send the pilot flying with a scream. The burning rubble what had been an AT-RT crashed to the white stone ground.

“Medic!” A clone shouted.

“Provide covering fire!” A Sergeant barked.

Two grenades was lobbed over to the droid lines. Half a dozen battle droids was crippled and a Dwarf spider lost two legs, but kept blasting at the Republic menace.

Spartacus got up and out of cover. He fired and moved left and made his way towards the injured walker pilot.

“Abyss, cover my advance!” He shouted over his comm.

“Already on it!” Abyss responded.

Spartacus rolled into cover of the burning walker and fired two bolts, killing two battle droids. He got a look on his surroundings and rushed to the injured clone. Friendly blaster bolts rained down over the enemy line formation. He quickly grabbed the clone and put him over his shoulder and hurried back to cover of a piece of the metal barricade.

Three clones moved up to provide supporting fire. The AT-AP barrage continued and they tore the last Dwarf Spider droids apart. A few that had been crippled was picked off by the troopers.

Stitches took a knee beside the Chief and his injured brother.

“Be still and you’ll be fine,” he told him in a hard voice. “Just be calm, Will.”

Spartacus saw the general leaping into the enemy line and starting to slash and scrap the remaining droids. He quickly stood up and fired at the droids around her. He didn’t like her aggressive attacks this far. She was putting herself in a bit too much danger, in his opinion. Going in without support from her troops could be a suicidal idea, even for a jedi.

A trooper fell on his flank, a smoking hole in his helmet made it obvious he didn’t survive the hit.


	4. Heavy Combat

**Dekkarun capital city Fermark**

As the battle entered its second hour the 1209th Armored Battalion’s walkers were spread out all over the city’s different levels. They were holding junctions and important plazas and squares and slowly advancing in support of their brothers in the infantry.

This was no different from Captain Locke and his walker Squad. He had two slow AT-APs and six AT-RTs massed together. He had’d a third AT-AP but it had been destroyed by a unit of commando droids.

It hadn’t been the first attack, but units of commando droids had assaulted them in hit-an-run attacks two other times. They had destroyed three AT-RTs and killed half a dozen troopers the first time and had a similar success the second time.

Sitting inside the walker, Locke aimed the main cannon at the corner of the street.

“Fire,” he said, just barely above his breath.

The cannon fired and the super battle droid squad was obliterated. Locke’s copilot smirked slightly.

“This thing packs real punch close up,” he said.

“Concentrate on moving the walker,” Locke replied.

“Yes, sir.”

Locke reached for the comm.

“Squad continue moving,” he ordered the other walkers around them. “Infantry, avoid getting squished.”

He earned a chuckle from the other pilot. But Locke kept his stoic expression under his helmet.

The small force moved around the corner and continued up the street.

“Sir, incoming droids!” The gunner up top alerted Locke and his copilot through the commlink.

The scanners counted ten droids. But these weren’t just _any_ droids. These were Heavy Akagi Class droids, manufactured by Rowadt Industries. An independent industrial giant that had sided with the Confederacy at the start of the war a year ago. They had initially tried to sign on with both the Confederacy and the Republic and earn from both sides, which didn’t last for long until they had to choose a side. They were manufacturing everything from weapons to droids, tanks and starships.

These Heavy Akagi Class droids were cylinder formed, approximately just over two meters in height with four mounted blasters and dark grey in color. They were heavily armed to resist infantry blaster fire and their main purpose was to counter infantry.

But against Armor of any kinds or heavy infantry weaponry, it stood little chance. They were slow in movement and maneuverability. Infantry could usually very quickly outmaneuver them.

Locke fired the main cannon and eliminated five of the six immediately. The artillery cannon did massive damage at close range. When they had returned to Geonosis for the second battle of the planet, Talon had decided to use the AT-APs in close range against AATs and masses of Geonosian’s and battle droids. It proved extremely effective.

A grenade thrown by a clone destroyed the last Heavy Akagi. The only shots the droids had fired had missed any targets.

 “It’s been ages since we got shot at by one of those clankers,” his copilot commented.

Locke smirked slightly with satisfaction.

At the beginning of the war the CIS had used them by the tens of thousands. But now-after a year-it had become clear that Rowadt Industries had manufactured a war droid poorly equipped for warfare. There was a reason it had been sold to more primitive societies in the past. The Heavy Akagi had poor maneuverability, no anti-tank capabilities, poor aim, no ability to adapt and the programming had been incompetent at best. No question why the CIS had stopped using the droids. Entirely. Some worlds used them but the Separatist Droid Army as a whole, did not. They were incredibly cheap, which explained why the Dekkarun military deployed them in numbers.

“If the Dekkarun use Akagi class droids, this should be over very soon,” Locke mocked the droids.

The other clone chuckled.

“Yes, Capt’n!” He agreed.

“Four levels up and we reach the Council Pyramid city level,” Locke said. “We’ll meet up with 3rd and 9th walker Squads on the next level. Then…we find the general and support her assault on the Sovereign Council’s hideout.”

With General T’racen leading them, the clones were certain of victory. They trusted her completely. Locke wondered how far from the Pyramid level she was now. But, he knew she’d be fine and meet them when it was time to end this battle. The first time he met her was on Geonosis at the opening stage of the war. He had been in command of a unit of walkers and she led the assault on a fortified Separatist position.

The small convoy of troopers and walkers swept up the street and turned a corner that led up the mountainside towards the next city level. They passed three Platoons holding a bridge to the other side but they had no trouble on their end so they continued. Those Platoons showed Locke just how messed up they got in the landing part of the invasion. One Platoon was from Echo Battalion, one from Zulu and one from Omega.

Locke’s armor had the violet stripes that signified the 81st Legion, and he wore them proudly. Macro binoculars was attached to his Phase II helmet and he wore violet and black shoulder armor. The Captain sat firmly in the seat and was ready to blast any Dekkarun Defense Force bastard stupid enough to attack them to bits.

Above them, the dogfighting continued in the same brutal fashion. No one had yet gained a decisive victory.

“Captain,” the other driver said. “I expected more ground defenses here, seems there isn’t much left but some droids and those commando droid hit-an-run squads.”

Locke turned his head to his brother.

“Captain Muck’s got this part of the capital mostly locked down,” Locke explained.

“Coruscant’s Fist boys?” His brother asked. “Damn, brothers stepped up since last battle.”

Locke grumbled something quietly before responding.

“They feel partially responsible for Commander Jade’s death,” Locke said flatly. “After all, they were fighting in the area.”

His brother faced him.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t their fault,” he stated.

“We all feel the kid’s death,” Locke grumbled flatly. “Either way though, the Coruscant’s Fist boys wanna prove themselves to the General by capturing the city, I don’t mind, neither do I believe that need to prove themselves though.”

Right now, Locke expected the General’s message to go out citywide. When it did, he hoped the Dekkarun soldiers would surrender and maybe even turn on the Sovereign Council’s droid forces. He had noticed that the fighters above their heads were droid fighters. Vulture droids and whatnot. It appeared the Council didn’t trust their own people to lead the air defense.

Suddenly a missile struck the side of an AT-RT, obliterating it and killing the pilot.

“Damn commando droids are back!” Locke exclaimed.

“Four o’clock, sir! Level two!” His brother located the attackers.

The gunner on top opened up with a barrage of bolts. The other walkers and infantry troopers quickly joined in on the barrage. It was short and devastating. The clone troopers moved up to investigate and eliminate any remaining commandos.

Locke was left to wait.

 _“Squad eliminated, Captain,”_ a trooper told him. _“We got ‘em.”_

“Copy, good work everyone,” Locke congratulated.

_“Sir, one thing though. The commando droids have red stripes on them.”_

Red stripes? Locke remembered speaking to Commander Abyss almost one and a half hour ago and Captain Lutz of Nitro Battalion about half an hour ago. Apparently red striped droids had showed up here and there. It appeared these were carrying out command tasks or special operations, like these commando droids. Lutz had said a squad of red striped battle droids put up an unusually good fight and seemed overly agile and clever, for battle droids.

**Dekkarun capital city Fermark**

The second wave of gunships had reached the capital and started dropping off the reinforcements. The Hunter Battalion’s Captain Bug-zapper set down in a plaza that was defended by men from three different Battalions.

The Captain got a good look around and began organizing his troops. He gave orders to his subordinates to send out fireteams of sharpshooters. Unfortunately the Battalions speeders wasn’t too much use here, other than for transportation.

Bug-zapper turned around to face the Commander that accompanied him.

Sabre’s lilac eyes looked up at the carnage that happened above their heads. The continued dogfight between Republic and Separatist aero forces. The Captain noted that her eyes had a slightly different shade then the Generals violet ones. The Commander had dressed herself in a red top, along with black pants and dark green robes hanging over her small frame.

This was the first time she had ever been on a battlefield.

She focused on Bug-zapper and walked over to him.

“Let’s get moving,” she said.

“The last gunships on setting down, Commander,” Bug-zapper replied. “We’re almost ready.”

Sabre kept herself from sighing. She wanted to get going and kill her first droids. She was eager to prove herself to her Master. She’d be so proud when she saw her initiative.

“Relax little jedi,” Sephire called. She was joining them from another gunship that just dropped troopers off. The merc had her red Mandalorian helmet on. “Just wait for the whole Company to set down, ok? Than we can cut up droids and meet up with the other Company’s before liberating this place.”

The Chiss Mercenary was dressed in a red Mandalorian armor. She had a customized Assault R12 Blaster rifle in her hands.

The cheerful Chiss merc looked at the padawan through her black visor. She wasn’t sure T’racen would be as happy as Sabre thought she’d be.

“Ya ready to meet your new Master soon?” Seph asked.

Sabre nodded excitedly.

“Definitely,” she said with excitement.

Sabre had already decided she liked the bounty hunter or merc or whatever this Chiss was. She seemed to be as excitable as she was. Throwing a glanced at Bug-zapper, the Captain was marching away to give his troopers orders. Well, technically her troopers, right? Jedi outranked any rank available for clones, didn’t they? She made a mental note to ask the Captain or any other officer about it later. Maybe her Master could explain that part.

She couldn’t wait to meet her.

**Dekkarun capital city Fermark**

Talon throw her hands up into the air in frustration. She was fuming right now, her anger rising by the second.

“Unbelievable!” She exclaimed. She paced back and forth in front of Abyss and Spartacus.

They both quietly watched her and waiting for the right time to chip in.

“I can’t believe the incompetence!” She continued. “My padawan arrives and I’m not informed, fine! Just fine. I can live with that, you know?” For a second she looked at Spartacus, but quickly continued without letting him respond. “Then, MY padawan goes planetside and lands in the middle of a city wide combat zone, and by the way, she’s never been in battle before. She’s a padawan-barely-and again, I’m not informed until after she’s down here! She didn’t even land near me!” She stopped pacing. “How in the force am I supposed to keep her alive and well without being there? I can’t keep her safe from across the city!”

Finally, it seemed the two men were given time to speak.

“General,” Abyss dared speak first. “Bug-zapper is a damn good officer and a helluva soldier. He’ll keep her alive.” He had full confident in his brothers abilities. The bald Commander removed his helmet. “You remember him from Geonosis, Ryloth, Geonosis two-point-oh, the terrorist asteroid base…” he paused, thinking he was making his point without babbling out any other operations. Once he removed his helmet, he revealed the scar on the left side of his face.

“I didn’t ask for Bug-zapper’s record,” she sneered. “I know his worth.”

“Should we contact the Captain?” Spartacus asked.

Talon sighed and nodded. “Yes, tell him I’m on my way.”

“Sir?” Abyss asked, glancing at Spartacus.

“I’m getting my new padawan,” she turned around and narrowed her eyes slightly on her trusted Commander. “I’m not risking her getting killed. Spartacus, tell Bug-zapper to meet us somewhere with her.”

“Understood, General. With your permission, I’m coming with you,” the giant of a man said. “I promise I won’t fail you again.”

She eyed him.

“You never failed me the first time,” she told him.

He didn’t say anything, nor did she. For a full minute, both just stared at each other.

“Bug-zapper is one level above us,” Spartacus finally spoke. “I’ll arrange things with him immediately.”

Talon nodded. “Abyss, get the men to the Council Pyramid and finish the operation.”

The clone nodded and put his helmet back on. “You got it, General.”


	5. Sovereign Council

**Dekkarun capital city Fermark, Council Pyramid**

The seven members of the Sovereign Council was hiding out in the bunker underneath the Council Pyramid. In the Strategic Command Center met with the Emergency Military Advisor and the holograms of Durge, General Grievous and Commodore Jaeriel. A Tactical droid with red stripes stood by the side of the holographic map of Fermark.

The Councilmembers showed just how diverse the population of Dekkarun was. There was a Skakoan, a human, Dug, Rodian, Shistavanan, Twi’lek and a Hutt. It was a quite diverse council. This certain _electorate_ was very diverse. In the past, the Council had mostly consisted of humans.

The Falleen female that acted as the Emergency Military Advisor keyed a keypad in front of her and the holographic map changed to an image of a specific level. The level with the Council Pyramid.

“Lastly,” she finished her briefing. “I organized a thicker defense around the anti-air cannons and barricaded the street leading to the Pyramid. But the clones have captured the Southern part of the city already. After two simple hours.”

She locked eyes with Grievous.

“The Dekkarun Defense Force isn’t up to the task and substantial numbers of them have already surrendered and even defected to the Republic forces.” Grievous gave off a loud snort. She turned her gaze to Durge and Jaeriel. “The pure number of droids present in Fermark is holding the Republic back slightly, but even with the upgraded droids from the Orion Task Force, we’re losing this battle.”

“How long until the capital falls, Agent Gul?” Grievous asked her in his rough, dark voice.

The Rodian male took a firm step towards the holographic table.

“This is a gross overstatement,” he declared gruffly and glared at the Falleen female.

She was wearing black pants with a dark brown belt holding up two holsters-with a blaster pistol in both-and a white tunic with a black light vest over it. Her long ebony black wavy hair hung down her back and spread over her shoulders. Her green skin arms was crossed under her chest and her beautiful yellow eyes looked at the Rodian with an emotionless expression.

“Lying won’t save your planet,” Commodore Jaeriel said curtly. “Or, your…eh, jobs. Your orbital fleet has been obliterated and your Patrol Fleet of shuttles doesn’t stand a chance against the Republic. The sooner everyone except the situation, the sooner we can figure out how to save Dekkarun.”

The Rodian snorted and stepped back. Councilor aka General Neddanu was the man in charge-mostly-for the state of the Defense Force, and their loyalty-or lack thereof.

The Skakoan male started tinkering with his frequency module.

“The industries at our disposal is manufacturing droids and vehicles as fast as possible, but we can’t push the workers harder without risking a mayor strike,” he explained. “Luckily the Republic...hasn’t occupied or bombarded any of them yet.”

“That is because they are attempting a different strategy,” Durge said. “The elimination of this Council.”

Several of the Councilors gasped in horror.

Jaeriel raised her hand.

“The Republic will never hurt you,” the Lahgan-Waleghi female calmed them. She had long green gorgeous hair-off course it didn’t show through the blue hologram, but-that was tugged in behind her pale long pointy ears. Her eyes were white and pupil-less, revealing that she was blind. “At best, you get arrested and accused of war crimes.”

“We have committed no crimes of war!” The Dug male barked angrily.

“I didn’t say you have,” Jaeriel assured the seven Councilors. “But you never know with the Republic.”

“True enough,” the human woman agreed.

“But-” the Skakoan started hopeful. “-there is reinforcements on the way to reclaim the lost parts of the city.”

Grievous nodded slowly.

“You do not need to worry, Foreman Madden,” Grievous told him flatly. “My Fleet is already on its way to your system. You must hold out for three days, and I will beat the Republic to dust.”

“Hopefully,” Durge grumbled.

Grievous glared at him.

“Do you have something to say, Durge?” He demanded to know.

“Not really,” Durge voiced. “Simply, that you are hardly known for easy victories against the Jedi and their clones.”

Grievous narrowed his eyes on the holographic representation.

“When did you defeat a Jedi last in battle?” He chuckled amused.

Durge narrowed his eyes right back at him and clenched his fists.

“You-”

“Xisu,” Jaeriel quickly interrupted them.

The Falleen looked at her with her yellow eyes. “Yes, mistress?”

Grievous and Durge stopped their argument and turned to Jaeriel.

“Can the defenses hold for three days?”

“I doubt it, mistress,” Xisu Gul answered sincerely. “Your droids are making a difference, but not enough. Not even the commando droids are able to keep the clones off their feet long enough. The hit-an-runs merely slow them down a bit and build up their casualties.”

“Kill as many clones as possible,” Grievous commanded.

Xisu looked at him and glanced to Jaeriel.

“Understood,” she affirmed.

“Xisu,” Jaeriel said. “Once we’re done here, I wish to speak with you in private.”

“Off course mistress,” the Falleen said.

The human woman titled her head left and spoke calmly. “Is it possible to negotiate with the Republic occupation forces?”

It earned snorts from Durge, Grievous and a few other Councilors.

“If only to keep them at bay until your fleet arrives General Grievous,” she continued.

“Negotiation is not an option,” Durge spat. “Under no circumstance. Your army should fight and die.”

“Forcing an unwilling army to fight harder, is difficult,” Jaeriel stated.

“The Defense Force is perfectly willing to die to defend their homeland!” The Rodian general barked adamantly.

Xisu rolled her eyes. A part of her was happy to see Dekkarun fall. It would let her go back to Lady Jaeriel and off this shit-planet. She didn’t like playing advisor to these self-important jackasses. The Skakoan, Hay Madden, was too much of a businessman for her taste. A representative and Foreman from Rowadt Industries. The human Councilor was too much of a diplomat and too political. The Dug was just a rich asshole and the Rodian General was too much military pomp and glory-crap. The furry Shistavanan was a bounty hunter-which was a plus-and she didn’t mind him too much. The Twi’lek was a businesswoman and-again-Xisu hated those types. The last and seventh was Ewan Oggurugg the Hutt. He was a Hutt-big minus-but also a rich crime boss-a large plus-but an all-out asshole that had a Falleen slave girl as part of his servant staff. That, she couldn’t stand. She hated seeing another Falleen enslaved and could do nothing about it.

As the meeting continued for another twenty minutes, Xisu could relax for a moment when the Councilors all left and Durge and Grievous signed off. It left Xisu, Jaeriel and the tactical droid. The tactical droids red stripes showed his inclusion into the Orion Task Force.

“Xisu, I spoke with Count Dooku and the Rowadt Industries Representative to the Separatist Parliament,” Jae explained.

“Sounds fun, mistress,” Xisu remarked jokingly.

Jae smirked faintly.

“My dear, I need you to silently evacuate Foreman Hay Madden,” she said. “It wouldn’t be…strategically speaking…good, to see a member of Rowadt Industries in Republic custody. Foreman Madden had a lot of information in his head. It could help the Republic find a countermeasure to their droid models and walkers.”

Xisu arched her eyebrows with a smirk.

“God forbids the Republic finds a way to counter the Heavy Akagi,” she joked.

Jae frowned, although she smirked inwardly at her friends comment.

“Either way, Madden needs to get off world, quickly.” She sighed slightly and cracked her pale fingers. “A few other Councilors will need to be evacuated if it comes down to it. Count Dooku has decided that a few, _must_ , be sacrificed.”

Xisu knew what that meant. That the most annoying and useless Councilors would be left for the Republic. Any disruptive Councilors with important information in their heads would be shot. Although she didn’t fully trust the Count, she trusted Mistress Jaeriel one thousand percent.

“What do I do after all this?” The Falleen asked.

“Get off the planet and back to my ship. We still have a war to fight,” Jaeriel informed.

Xisu smiled.

“I have actually missed the _Auden_.”

Jaeriel’s hologram turned off and Xisu turned to the tactical droid.

“Get some commando droids together Commander,” she ordered. “And prep a shuttle with hyperspace capabilities.”

“Yes Agent Gul,” it responded.

With that she left the briefing room and walked down a corridor. She made her way to the sector of the bunker complex that contained the Councilors quarters. Foreman Madden shared corridor with the Hutt and the human female. Adana Bogdan.

The Hutt had four private mercs outside his door and a pair of battle droids paced the corridor. The Hutt didn’t have much faith in the local Guardsmen or the droid security forces.

Xisu pressed the door panel to Madden’s quarters. The door opened after a moment.

“Yes Agent Gul?” The Skakoan asked politely. “What…is it?”

“Councilor,” Xisu said curtly. “There is a situation that requires your attention.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll explain on the way please.”

He nodded slowly.

“Alright than. Lead the way.”

It was impossible to tell if he was curious, suspicious or nervous in that suit of his, and that monotone mechanical voice didn’t help matters.

He followed Xisu down the corridor and to an elevator. When the elevator stopped on ground level, he looked at her confused. The sight of six commando droids didn’t make him feel less curious.

“What is going on Agent Gul? I demand to be told right now,” he said.

“Sir,” she said. “You’re being evacuated.”

“E-evacuated?”

“Correct, sir. Honestly, this planet is falling and the brass doesn’t want you captured,” she told him.

“I-it, it would be a great loss indeed,” he realized.

She kept herself from rolling her eyes.

“Indeed. Let’s get going. These guys is your escort.” She turned to the approaching commando droids. “Escort the Foreman to the shuttle in the hangar.”

“Understood,” one of them said.

The commando droids had the red stripes of the Orion Task Force.

“Good luck agent,” Madden said as he quickly made his way towards the hangar with the droids.

Xisu chuckled. He hadn’t even paid his stuff a thought. Didn’t care about bringing any of it. Just wanted to save his cowardly hide. She reached for her commlink.

“Commander,” she said.

“Yes Agent?” The tactical droid responded.

“Transport the artwork in Foreman Madden’s quarters to my ship,” Xisu commanded.

“Understood Agent.”

She was going to bring the art left behind to Mistress Jaeriel. Since Madden wouldn’t need it, her mistress would certainly appreciate it. In a few hours she would get the hell off the planet and evac the remaining Councilors.

Xisu knew Grievous wasn’t nearby. It was just a thing they said to calm down the Councilors. Grievous had far more important things going on than wasting resources on this damned planet. The droid general had a far tastier target in mind. Xisu smiled slightly, thinking about how the war could soon end in a total victory for the CIS. The Republic would have little choice but to sign an unconditional surrender.

**Dekkarun capital city Fermark**

**Hunter Battalion Advance Force**

The battle of Fermark enters its third hour. Talon and Spartacus finally run into the first troopers from Bug-zapper’s Battalion. Most of his Companies had joined up with him at this point. The troopers was glad to see General T’racen and the Elderguard Chief Spartacus coming into the junction they occupied.

Talon saw a dozen captured Defense Force soldiers sitting down by a few armed troopers. Two of the defenders were Twi’lek, one Dug and a few Nikto but most they were human.

“Trooper, where’s Captain Bug-zapper?” Talon asked a clone.

“Further back, general,” the clone said.

“Thank you, trooper.” Talon and Spartacus made their way through the first ranks of clones.

Talon’s violet eyes searched for her Twi’lek padawan and Captain Bug-zapper. Even Seph if necessary. If the merc had any sense, she would stick to the padawan like a Jedi and his lightsaber.

Spartacus walked a few steps behind the angry jedi Knight. His gaze strayed to the people around them. A few civilians was peeking out their windows and he saw a young woman kissing every clone passing by. Other members of the populous were cheering on the advancing clones. He was relieved to have the people on their side. It made it a lot easier.

For a moment he turned his blue visor upward and looked into the sky and at the dogfighting still ongoing. He never liked fighting in nice weather. He had personally preferred to invade on a Dekkarun rainy autumn day, instead of this hot summer’s day, with the sun shining on a hot cloud free sky.

Finally, as Spartacus viewed their surroundings, Talon spotted the Mandalorian armored Chiss. Not too far from her, was Bug-zapper and a Twi’lek girl with green skin.

Once the general set off on a course for the trio, Spartacus quickly followed.

At first glance, the padawan seemed happy to see her presumed new master coming to meet her. But that quickly fell into a worried expression when she saw that the red skin Twi’lek looked, oh so much less than happy.

Talon stopped right in front of her and gestured for Bug-zapper to take a hike.

The Captain jogged away to join his troopers. Spartacus stopped five meters away and casually strolled about.

It took a stern glare to make Sephire leave. She was hoping to get to enjoy the show of Talon ripping her padawan a new one.

Sabre swallowed and fiddled with her fingers with an increasing nervous feeling. She had a feeling she master did **not** approve of her actions.

“What in the force are you doing!?” Talon snapped. Getting the others to leave was rather pointless as she was shouting, very loudly. It caused dozens of clones to turn their heads, but no one looked more than a few seconds. “Are you out of your little green mind!?” She had her narrowed eyes staring into Sabre’s lilac eyes.

Sabre felt her heart melt and her former excitement quickly tremble and disappear. She couldn’t break the eye lock with her new master, but she desperately wanted to look away. Right now, she had no idea if she should answer or just wait for her to continue, but her master decided for her.

“The first thing I ever hear about you is that you’re here and groundside already!” Talon shouted. “What made you think you could go into a war zone on your own without my permission! You are just barely a padawan, what makes you think you know anything about actual battle?!”

“M-master-” Sabre managed.

“You don’t have any experience yet and do not have the right to make that kind of decision on your own!” Talon continued.

Sabre managed to break her locked eyes from her master and glanced around at all the clones. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were all thinking about this. If she didn’t feel like she was on the edge of tears she might be embarrassed. Now she didn’t have time to be embarrassed.

Finally, Talon stopped screaming at her, and appeared to calm down. The Knight breathed out and relaxed slightly. She looked away from her padawan for a moment and rubbed her forehead tiredly.

Spartacus felt sorry for the little Twi’lek, but he understood where Talon was coming from. Her anger was probably partially feelings about Jade’s death that sipped out. After losing her padawan in battle Talon didn’t want her new padawan injured or killed in battle before they even met. Her, _initiative_ , was her boiling point being reached. Truth be told, Spartacus was worried that Sabre’s initiative-misdirected as it was-might crumble after this. He didn’t approve of her actions, but he approved of her taking the initiative. It was an important factor that separated them from the Separatist Droid Army.

Sabre didn’t move and didn’t say a thing. She just stood perfectly still and waited for her master to say something. When her master looked back at her she flinched.

“I don’t have time to keep yelling at you, just keep close to me and listen to everything I say, understood?”

Sabre nodded swiftly. “Y-yes Master T-T’racen!”


	6. Closing in

**Dekkarun capital city Fermark, Council Pyramid**

Xisu was sitting in her quarters as the battle of Fermark entered its fourth hour. She had just had an update from her tactical droid. The thing told her that Defense Force units across Dekkarun was standing down and waiting to see who prevailed, meanwhile a General in the south of the continent had proclaimed his loyalty to the Republic and rose up with his Division of ten thousand men and claimed the region he governed liberated from the Sovereign Council’s oppression. If that wasn’t bad enough, smaller forces in the nearby regions was giving him their loyalty and at the moment, between twenty and thirty thousand troops was under his command, plus a large numbers of tanks and aircrafts.

All Xisu could do was groan. They couldn’t send in any Defense Force Divisions to crush the uprising because they were more likely to defect then combat their former brothers-in-arms.

Even worse, in Fermark, the droids were having trouble knowing who was an enemy and who was a friendly because of all the defecting Dekkarun soldiers. A third of the capital garrison had defected and a third had surrendered without barely firing a shot.

She thought about her current orders. Evac any valuable members of the Council, execute the rest without alerting anyone and then get off the planet herself.

The Skakoan was already off the planet. Foreman Madden was in safety already. The human diplomat was a good negotiator and political leader, a useful person to keep around and just let her do something else for the CIS. The Dug rich mine owning bastard was a pointless shit. The Rodian Chief of the Army was a credit a dozen. The CIS had a flow of competent military commanders, and it wouldn’t feel the Rodian’s death. The Shistavanan had a bounty hunter group at his back and they were an asset to the war effort. The Twi’lek was just a regular businesswoman and had no use at all. But the Hutt was a necessary evil. As a crime boss he had ties in the criminal underworld and even ties to the Hutt Council.

Jaeriel had put her in command of deciding who got to live and who was _sacrificed_ for the cause. Off course, it couldn’t be proven that the CIS executed them, so she had to make it look like they were shot by their own people in retribution.

“I can’t wait to get off this stinking planet,” Xisu mumbled to herself.

He raised her glass of brandy and sipped carefully.

About an hour ago, a message had gone out city-wide from the Jedi in charge of this invasion. She had pleaded with the Dekkarun people to not fight them and instead help them to liberate their own planet. She told the civvies to stay back and let the fighting end before leaving their homes so they didn’t get killed in the crossfire. This had made Xisu’s job a helluva lot harder.

She had managed to get the Councilors to agree to place the Defense Force backup the droids, letting the droids take the brunt of the Republic fire and the Dekkarun soldiers would just back them up and risk less. It might keep them fighting a little harder and keep them loyal longer if they didn’t feel betrayed. Field officers was also given command of battle droid units in hopes of increasing their fighting spirit and loyalty to the cause. Off course, this could also give defectors the ability to send Platoons of droids into ambushes or place them in defense of pointless structures and locations of no strategic value.

Xisu left her quarters, deciding it was time to get on with it and get off this freaking planet.

**CIS space, Dreadnought _Auden_**

Jaeriel sat on the floor of her private quarters and faced the holographic representation of Count Dooku.

“I hope your trust in Agent Gul is correctly placed,” Dooku said mindfully. “We do not want the fall of Dekkarun to come to nothing.”

“I assure you she’s up to the task,” Jaeriel said confidently. “She’s very skilled.”

Dooku nodded slowly.

“If you say so, my child,” he conceded. “Tell me, how are you doing?”

She shrugged lightly and curved her lips into a slight smile.

“I’m good, Count,” she answered. “Kinda bored after doing nothing for three weeks.”

“Understandable,” Dooku said.

Her smile increased slightly.

“I presume you didn’t call me to chitchat.”

“Very true,” he replied. “In fact, I have new orders for you, Jae.”

Jaeriel shined up. Finally she was getting something to do.

“I need you to head to Vorrina in the Outer Rim,” the elder man explained. She arched an eyebrow with interest.

“The Vorrish homeworld, why?” She asked.

“With some careful diplomacy and territorial promises, the Vorrish Tribal High Council signed their entry into the Separatist Alliance a month ago.”

It caused Jaeriel to frown.

“A month ago? But I haven’t heard anything.”

“That, my child, is the point,” Dooku told her. “It will be kept a secret until their forces join our in battle. There forces will assist in retaking Ukio and Hypori, and put Roon under our grasp.”

It made complete since to Jaeriel. The CIS needed the minerals of Hypori and ensure the Republic didn’t reclaim the breadbasket of Ukio. But these three planets wasn’t the primary reason of this offensive, clearly. She knew of two important planets not too far away. Especially one.

“Kamino,” she voiced slightly perplexed. “Are we assaulting it again?”

Dooku nodded.

“With a surprise attack and Vorrish ships and troops, the Republic and its Jedi protectors will never hold,” he said confidently. “With Kamino in our hands, the clone production dies. And, so does the Republic.”

She wasn’t sure she liked how he put it, but their main objective in this war was defeating the Republic after all.

“How many ships do I bring with me?” She asked. She presumed Dooku wanted her in the assault of Kamino. This was the beginning of something that could end the war once and for all.

“We bring one Lucrehulk Coreship into this battle, along with four other Warships,” the elderly man elaborated. “The Lucrehulk carry a standard complement of three hundred thousand droids in support of the Vorrish own forces. They will bring seventeen Frigates, _Obliterator_ class and six Tribunes.”

A Tribune was the Vorrish version of a Division or Legion. Basically ten thousand troops. So sixty thousand troops to their three hundred thousand droids. It would make the CIS mostly responsible for the ground war, and put the Vorrish in charge of all space operations.

“Count Dooku,” she voiced her concerns. “Last time Grievous suffered great casualties and failed. The Republic defense was very strong in space and we have no idea how many clones are planetside.”

“If the attack is swift enough, it won’t matter,” Dooku told her sternly, his friendly demeanor gone. “If done well, the space battle would take a short while. The _Obliterator_ class Frigates is nothing to sneer at.” He cocked his head up. “Our intelligence have identified a fleet of 16 Republic starships.”

She was silent for a moment.

“Will Grievous join me in this battle?”

Dooku shook his head.

“No. The general will lead another offensive.”

She arched a curious eyebrow.

“My lord?”

“Grievous will lead a large fleet to liberate Geonosis and put Magog the Grand on the Geonosian throne as Archduke.”

With Geonosis back, it would provide the CIS with industrial power and an almost endless manpower pool for construction of future factories. The idea to turn Geonosis into an industrial paradise was still very much alive in some minds. Magog the Grand could be counted among them.

But Jaeriel wasn’t convinced it was worth it after losing the planet twice. Last time Poggle the Lesser was captured and placed in Republic custody. Although she would never raise these concerns to Dooku’s face. That would probably make his mood quite foul.

One thing that was always in the back of her mind-especially given the importance of her next mission-was the none-existent oversight she had during operations. She could basically do whatever it took without anyone other than Dooku ever finding discovering the truth. The Republic had-at least-some military oversight, which the CIS did not have.

“If you succeeds in capturing Kamino, it will effectively end the war,” Dooku reminded her with what appeared to be a vicious smirk. “You will be a hero of the Confederacy.”

**Dekkarun, Capital city Fermark**

Sabre walked a few meters behind Talon as they made their way upward to the Pyramid level of the city. She hadn’t said a said a word to each other since her master yelled at her. To be honest, she was still sad about it. It felt like she had failed utterly already. She was terrified that her master would send her back to the Temple and tell Master Yoda she wasn’t ready. She was scared just thinking about it.

She glanced to her right as a black armored giant appeared with yellow stripes. His blue visor looked at her, so presumable he did as well.

“Sir,” he greeted firmly and nodded. “I’m Chief Spartacus, Elderguard.”

Sabre looked at him, slightly curious. Not to mention happy someone talked to her, and wasn’t screaming.

“Sabre,” she greeted back and offered her hand.

The armor clad giant accepted.

She remembered the Elderguard. She had seen some in the Temple back on Coruscant. They used to serve alongside the Jedi Order. Guard the Temples, fight beside them, but their specialty was hunting down rouge Jedi and capture or eliminate them. They were experts at fighting force users, or, at least they were in the past. It was a long time since a Sith or actually powerful Jedi went rouge to her knowledge. So theoretically they might have lost some of their skills since the Old Republic days. Still, this guy looked badass.

“You really an Elderguard?” She asked.

He nodded.

“Yes ma’am,” he confirmed. “That I am.” He nodded forward. “Served with General T’racen since the beginning of the war pretty much. Known her longer.”

“Soooo…” Sabre started carefully. “Does she…hate me?”

He looked back to her sincerely.

“Not at all ma’am. She doesn’t hate you.”

“H-how do you know? I pissed her off royally.”

“Perhaps, but everyone makes mistakes, even Jedi. She knows that. She’ll get over it.”

Sabre wasn’t as certain. She was pretty sure Master T’racen was never gonna get over this.

“Wanna know something?” Spartacus asked her casually.

She slowly and sadly looked at him. “What?”

“Do you know why they call the Hunter Battalion’s Captain for Bug-zapper?”

Sabre’s interest and curiosity rose and she shook her head.

“No, why? How did he get it?”

Spartacus smiled slightly behind his visor.

“Bug-zapper partook in the initial battle of Geonosis,” he started explaining. “Killed over a hundred Geonosian’s on his own. One hundred and forty, I believe. When the 81st returned for the Second Battle, he brought his killstreak up to three hundred and eighty something. Gutted a ton with his knife.”

“Wow,” Sabre said in awe. Her excitement was kind of adorable, if they weren’t talking about killing hundreds of sentient lifeforms, enemy combatants or not. “That’s awesome!” She squealed.

“He called himself Bug-zapper after the first round, but the second really punched it in,” the Chief continued. “Once we’re done here and got some downtime, I’ll introduce you to all the Battalion Captains. Let you know who you’ll be commanding.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’d like that. If…” she got sad again. “…master doesn’t send me away.”

“She won’t,” Spartacus tried reassuring her. If Sabre knew about Jade, she’d understand but it wasn’t his place to talk about Talon’s former padawan and her death at that Zabrak bitch. He fumed at the thought of her, but quickly calmed down. “She’s a good Jedi, military commander and a great person. When she has time to relax, she’ll like you. I can already tell she will.”

Two levels above them Abyss and Gecko had turned a regular house into their temporary headquarters. The Commander stood in the doorway and looked at the AT-AP that had stopped outside.

Out of the walker climbed Locke. The Captain nodded to Abyss.

“Commander, glad to see you in one piece,” he said.

“Back at you, Locke,” Abyss said honestly. “Come on.”

Locke followed him inside and saw Gecko.

“Aha, I see Echo Battalion got here nice and well,” Locke noted enthusiastically.

“More or less,” Gecko responded. He showed Locke a holographic map of the Pyramid level. “Let’s get to it.”

Abyss stepped forward and assumed his professional stance.

“We’re only two hundred meters from the pyramid level,” he started. “Tanks to Gecko’s company, we have a beachhead up there already and doesn’t have to fight through a bottleneck. Casualties would’ve been even higher.”

Locke looked at Gecko.

“Casualties?”

“In breaching the Pyramid level alone,” Gecko said solemnly. “Eighty wounded and one hundred and sixteen fatalities.”

“Damn,” Locke muttered. “Sorry brother.”

Gecko nodded.

“Thanks, Locke,” he said appreciatively. “Dekkarun had two bunkers and a fraggin’ AAT staring us down with a dozen medium repeaters. Thankfully half ran out of ammo after a while. Otherwise…”

Locke nodded understandingly.

They looked back to Abyss.

He nodded and continued.

“Thanks to Dekkarun defectors, we know about every bunker and fortified position on the Pyramid level. Defectors have also used detonators to destroy four minor supply depots and eliminated some of the enemy’s heavy vehicles. The general is approaching and isn’t far away. When she arrives with Hunter Battalion, we strike hard and fast, push through the main street all the way to the Pyramid and surround and assault it.” He paused. “Admiral Cossack informed us moments ago that all enemy airfields in this region have been either destroyed or occupied by Red Battalion and elements from the 120th Mountain Regiment that couldn’t join in the original drop.”

Locke smiled and chuckled. “Grand work there, huh. The sky is practically ours.”

“Not yet,” Abyss told him. “But the defenders will run out of munitions and fuel and be unable to resupply when it happens.”


	7. Forgiveness

**Dekkarun, capital city Fermark**

Locke was back inside his AT-AP and moving up passed the bunkers on the Pyramid city level. It had been twenty minutes since he met with Abyss and Gecko and with General T’racen leading the charge, they were assaulting the city level with the Council Pyramid. With only one road there, it was a long and rather thin stretch of ground to march.

The Starfighters above their heads was becoming predominantly Republic.

A missile swirled by and barely missed the All Terrain Attack Pod. Five meters ahead of them, an AT-RT got hit by another missile and erupted in flames. It sent the dead pilot’s body flying through the air.

A second later another AT-RT went up in flames, as did five troopers when a rocket struck just by them.

“Medic!” A trooper shouted from behind cover of a house wall.

“Stitches, get your butt up here!” Someone shouted.

The clone medic grumbled to himself further back. He looked at the medic beside him and his brother nodded.

They bolted forward through the street to the next house for cover. They ducked in through the smashed open door and hid inside. They found two destroyed super droids, a Chiss in a Defense Force uniform and a trooper.

Stitches checked his limp brother out. He very soon sighed.

“Damn. Sorry buddy.” He turned around and peeked outside again. “Let’s go.”

He and the other medic rushed forward. They passed the burning rubble of two AT-RTs, an AAT and an AT-AP. Passing a trio of dead clones Stitches stopped when two rockets hit the front of the column, only ten meters from them. He pushed his fellow medic into cover.

“Hey we got no chance to reach the wounded with rockets rainin’ down on us!” He barked over the comm on his wrist.

Locke’s AT-AP fired the main gun right into a house, ripping up the entire secondary level and killing anyone there.

 _“Working on it, doc!”_ The answer came back from a Trooper Gear. _“But my chaingun can’t maw everyone down at ones!”_

“Work faster!” Stitches shot back. “We need to get up there, quick!”

Another shot fired from Locke’s walker. It wrecked a line of battle droids attempting to advance. A second shot hit another house. Troopers stormed into the ten meter tower on the edge of the street, hanging over the edge of the mountain. It took three minutes to clear it.

 _“Tower cleared,”_ Gear said. _“Doc, move!”_

“Copy,” Stitches confirmed.

He made his way up and into the tower were three injured had been carried in. He quickly took a knee beside one of them-as his brother took care of another injured.

Gear leveled his Rotary Blaster Cannon out the doorway and unloaded a heavy barrage.

“I got two commander droids,” Gear alerted one of the sniper teams.

It took three seconds before one of the droid commanders went down. A second later the next followed.

 _“Both Commanders eliminated,”_ Ghost said through the comm on his wrist.

With the walkers moving up Gear jogged up behind them and joined the frontline infantry.

Inside his walker Locke unloaded a shot from his main gun and turned three Heavy Akagi and a dozen B1 battle droids to scrap. Leading from the front, it gave the gunner free range to fire at almost anything that moved. The rattling of the barrage of laser cut down the last lines of the battle droid Platoon, with assistance from the troopers surrounding the walkers. Including Gear.

 _“I expected heavier resistance then this,”_ a trooper said over the open comm.

 _“No kidding, huh,”_ Gear responded. _“Where’s the last loyal Dekkarun boys and girls?”_

 _“Defending the Pyramid, I’d wager,”_ another suggested.

 _“Last line of defense,”_ the first said. _“Maybe, what ya think Ghost?”_

It took the sniper a few seconds to respond, but when he did he sounded annoyed.

 _“I’m focusing on shooting down droids here, kinda busy,”_ he said.

 _“It’s just a harmless question brother,”_ a trooper named Edge cut in. _“Tell you what, how many droids you taken out this far? I mean from touchdown.”_

 _“Seventy nine,”_ Ghost answered. _“Eighty.”_

 _“Nice shot. Right through the head,”_ Gear complimented. _“Impressive as always.”_

 _“Cut the chatter,”_ Abyss interrupted them. _“Keep the advance moving forward.”_

 _“Yes, sir!”_ The clones exclaimed in unison.

Locke curved his lips into a little smile.

They fired the main cannon again, obliterating the last droids in their path.

Meanwhile Abyss was at the head of the advance. He slowed down for a moment when the general came up to join him. As did her new padawan. He looked at the little green Twi’lek for a moment. She was but a child. Way too young to fight a galactic war. Jedi or not, she was too young. Not unlike Jade. He couldn’t understand how the jedi so easily-seemed-to put kids in war zones.

“General, we’re pushing through the Dekkarun defenses,” he told her.

The Twi’lek nodded.

“Good work, Abyss.” She looked at her padawan. “This is Sabre. As for probably figured out, my new padawan.” She then looked back at Abyss. “Quick introduction then, Commander Abyss is my second in command.”

Sabre nodded politely, a slight point of sadness in her eyes.

“Commander, great meeting you,” she greeted curtly.

“Sir. It’ll be a pleasure fighting with you,” he said. “I’d salute but protocol’s strict on that in battle.”

She shook her head.

“Y-you don’t actually need to salute me, I-I’m just a padawan,” she assured him and glanced at her master.

 _“General Talon,”_ a voice cracked through the comm.

“Yes, report,” Talon said.

 _“Sir,”_ the voice of Captain Sly answered her. The CO of the 120 th Mountain Regiment. _“My boys are pushing up towards the Pyramid, can see the gate now. A hundred meters between us.”_

Captain Sly led an advance from the other direction to sandwich the defensive forces and force them to split up to protect both streets.

“Already,” Talon remarked. “Impressive.”

_“Not really, general. The local defenders set up their own ambush for the clankers. The lied to the buckets about the location of a minefield and made them go straight into it before they opened up a barrage from behind when we arrived. Easily picked them off.”_

“Locals really want their planet back,” she confirmed. “Take the Pyramid as soon as possible.”

_“Yes, general! Sly out.”_

Abyss looked at Talon as they continued forward.

“Gotta be a record,” he told her. She arched an eyebrow questioningly. “Finishing an invasion in under five hours.”

She smirked. “I’d say so.” She lost it and looked back at Sabre going behind her. “If we’re lucky there could still be some droids left for you to scrap. Hate to think you took the trip down for nothing.”

Sabre swallowed and kept quiet.

After serving a year with her, Abyss could tell the general was royally pissed off and decided not to touch the Jedi issue. It wasn’t fitting for a clone to interfere in what was clearly a matter between a Jedi Knight and her padawan.

Talon sighed and halted.

“Keep going, we’ll catch up,” she told her clone Commander.

“Sir.” Abyss marched off.

Sabre looked worried when Talon turned to her. Thankfully she didn’t seem angry, yet.

Talon gestured her to step aside for a moment and let the troopers pass them by.

Before speaking, she let out a heavy sigh.

“Look, kiddo. What you did was not only wrong, it was outright stupid,” she started. Sabre didn’t dare looking up at her, but kept staring at her own feet. “This is a battlefield. You have never been on one before, and although Dekkarun has been a bit of a pushover, I promise you the CIS isn’t usually. They outnumber us over one thousand to one in droids and overall, they have a surplus of resources compared to the Republic. Next time we fight, we could find ourselves outnumbered by a mass of battle droids. If you run head-in-first. You could end up dead.” She looked at Sabre for a full minute without speaking. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Slowly, Sabre nodded. She felt herself going misty eyed and tried to blink it away.

Then Talon put her hands on her shoulders gently.

“You’re still fourteen years old,” she said in a softer and kinder voice. “You made a mistake, a big one, and as your master I am going to make sure you don’t do it again. I…I promise, just listen to me and I will teach you how to-”

“Y-you don’t h-hate me?!” Sabre exclaimed shocked and stared up at Talon.

It took Talon by surprise. She hadn’t expected her to ask anything of the kind.

“Off course I don’t.”

Sabre immediately threw her arms around her in a big hug. Talon was even more surprised but gently hugged the girl back.

“It’s alright.”

“I’ll be the best student ever!” Sabre promised. “I promise.”

It made Talon smirk.

“And I’ll try, with enthuses on try, to be the best master ever,” she answered.

Coming up with a Platoon of troopers Spartacus came across the two jedi hugging. He smiled behind his visor. They worked it out, clearly. Talon looked happy again. It wasn’t just regular happiness. It was a certain spark in her eyes, something she had lost when Jade died. Seems she found it again. He mused that maybe she could see a bit of herself it that little girl. He certainly could.

Breaking from the hug, Talon smiled at her apprentice.

 _“General T’racen,”_ Abyss shot over the comm.

“Report,” she answered her wrist comm.

_“Sir, we’ve met up with Sly and Hatchet in the Council Pyramid. Searching it now, but the staff says most of the Councilors left quietly with their Falleen advisor. Part from three of them. Two confirmed dead by the guardsmen and one captured trying to escape. A Dug.”_

“Got a name?”

 _“Pyrus Bhoussos. Staff gave us his id. In one sentence, sir. We just took Dekkarun,”_ Abyss finished with a happy voice.

“Understood, Abyss. Contact Cossack and have the 50th Legion send in,” Talon said.

_“On it.”_

The 50th Legion was also known as the Scrappers. They were experts in hunting down droid contingents on a planet after the invasion was over and sweep up any remnants of the CIS forces previously occupying the planet. As Dekkarun. With the Defense Force on their side, it would be pretty easy this time.

“So…I don’t get to scrap any droids?” Sabre asked for confirmation.

It caused Talon to laugh.

“That’s it. Sorry kiddo. Next planet, probably.” She turned her head to the Elderguard Chief. “You good?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied in a casual tone. “Didn’t get to fire more than three shots though. Took down a super droid. Don’t look forward to Abyss’s kill count on this mission. Or Ghost’s.”

“I’m sure you killed more than both of them combined since we landed,” Talon told him light heartedly.

“Otherwise I’ll never hear the end of is.” He leaned in slightly and looked at the clones passing them by. “Remember Commander, clones…they’re really cocky bastards. Real braggers these guys.”

“Haha! Look who’s talkin’,” Stitches burst. “Mister elite special trained soldier man. Mister, I’m expected to scrap more droids, huh?”

A bunch of clones chuckled, as did Talon.

“For the record,” he said loudly. “I don’t brag. It’s just a fact that I scrap more droids. Simple as that.” He added a casual shrug.

Sabre smiled. She was definitely going to like these guys.


End file.
